About

Amy Farrell is a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University and serves as the director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. She is also the co-director of the Violence and Justice Research Laboratory within the Institute on Race and Justice at Northeastern. She joined the faculty in 2008, having previously served as the assistant director of the Institute on Race and Justice and a faculty researcher at Northeastern. Her research focuses on understanding and describing how the criminal justice system administers justice, with particular attention to how it responds to crimes such as human trafficking. Farrell has studied and published on how law enforcement agencies identify, investigate, and prosecute human trafficking cases, and how changes in laws impact these processes. She has also examined labor trafficking victimization among U.S. citizens and foreign nationals, as well as public perceptions and policy responses to human trafficking. Additionally, Farrell has investigated racial and gender representation in court workgroups, jury outcomes, and factors influencing acquittals. She has co-authored books on criminal justice issues and has been recognized with awards such as the NIJ’s W.E.B. DuBois Fellowship and the American Society Criminology Mentor of the Year.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Psychology
• Biochemistry
• Biology
• Medicine
• Cell biology
• Social psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Criminology
• Immunology
• Law
• Chemistry
• Biotechnology
• Clinical psychology

Selected publications

• The role of parental consent: Implications for surveying minors who experience or are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation in the United States

  Social Science & Medicine · 2026-04-03

  article
  PublisherDOI

• The Role of Intersectional Identities: A Network Perspective on Latino/a Adults Experiences With Hate Crimes and Events

  Journal of Interpersonal Violence · 2026-01-27

  article

  An intrinsic part of hate crime perpetration is to be motivated in part or whole based on biases against another due to their identity. Yet, less is known about how hate crime impacts people who occupy multiple marginalized identities. This analysis moves our understanding forward by employing network analysis to capture how hate crimes and bias-motivated experiences cluster among different victim demographics. We focus here on Latino/a populations in the United States, which are at increased risk for hate crime victimization. Using a sample of Latino/a adults across three U.S. communities ( n = 910), we assess the links between bias-motivated experiences based on multiple key demographic intersections. Results demonstrate that gender, immigrant status, and economic status distinctly impact how bias-motivated experiences cluster and relate, particularly when examined together. Findings suggest that it is imperative to look at people’s victimization experiences holistically, especially when they hold multiple identities that fundamentally change their experiences with bias-motivated harm. These findings have implications for practitioners, particularly those in the criminal justice system, who seek to better identify and respond to victims of hate crime.

  PublisherDOI

• Exploring the Relationships among Adverse Childhood Experiences and Childhood Trauma Knowledge, Stigma, and Support and Help-Seeking Attitudes

  Research Square · 2025-06-03

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Confronting Discrimination: Opportunities and Challenges in Addressing Human Trafficking for Forensic Nurses and Related Disciplines

  2025-04-11

  preprintOpen access

  Background: Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a critical public safety and health concern in the U.S. While evidence exists on the healthcare needs of exploited youth, less is known about the barriers they face accessing care. Discrimination in healthcare is one barrier reported by exploited youth and can include the perception of being treated differently based on perceived intelligence, engagement in commercial sex, or not feeling heard by nurses or doctors. This study explores the associations of discrimination in healthcare among youth who have experienced or are at high risk of CSEC.Methods: Survey data from a sample of 534 young people aged 13-24 who experienced or are at risk of CSEC were collected via agency partnership and social media. Ordinary least squares and logistic regression models examined the associations among victimization histories and different perceived discrimination events in healthcare settings. CSEC disclosure is highly associated with discriminatory events in medical settings.Results: Among evaluated victimization histories, CSEC experiences were the most highly associated with an increase in the odds of each discriminatory event in the present measure, compared to other victimization histories that yielded lower associations of discrimination in medical settings. Experiences of discrimination in health care are an underexamined barrier to CSEC victims seeking and engaging with health care.Implications: By fostering a supportive, nonjudgmental environment, healthcare providers can improve healthcare experiences for CSEC survivors. Recommendations include enhancing training for healthcare professionals and creating more accessible and supportive healthcare services tailored to the unique needs of these young people.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Perceptions of Trauma-Informed Care: The Experiences of Minor Sex Trafficking Survivors in Medical Settings

  CrimRxiv · 2025-12-09

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Effect of Bias Victimization on Mental Health Outcomes among a Sample of Latinx Adults

  Journal of Interpersonal Violence · 2025-05-08

  article

  Bias-motivated victimization, including hate crimes, has steadily been an increasing concern across the country. For Latinx populations, anti-immigrant sentiment and targeted political rhetoric have also been on the rise. Due to this context, it is important to understand the detrimental impact such experiences can have on mental health outcomes such as anger, anxiety, depression, and dissociation. The aim of this study is to better understand the role of bias victimization on mental health outcomes among the Latinx community using self-reported survey data. This analysis consists of 910 Latinx adults from Boston, San Diego, and Houston who were recruited through partnerships with community agencies and self-selection during local Latinx-focused events in 2018-2019. This methodology was essential to capturing the lived experiences of traditionally hard-to-reach populations. The survey asked participants to report any experiences with hate crime, bias-motivated victimization, and general experiences with victimization unrelated to their identity in their lifetime and within the past year. Notably, about half of the sample reported experiencing a bias victimization in their lifetime. Using sequential regressions and tests of mediation, we find that the association between bias victimization and mental health was influenced by acculturative stress. The results of this study highlight the harmful consequences that bias victimization and racial trauma bring. Bias victimization, ranging from everyday microaggressions to hate crimes, as well as the level of acculturative stress, subsequently negatively affects the mental health of Latinx adults. This study provides important evidence regarding the harm incurred from bias-motivated incidents and the detrimental impact it has on the lives of those who experience them.

  PublisherDOI

• The Half-Built Road: Exploring the Impediments to Justice for Victims of Labor Trafficking

  2025-05-16

  book-chapterOpen access

  The exploitation of people in forced labor is a significant human rights violation and a threat to community safety. Despite enhanced efforts to identify and prosecute labor trafficking perpetrators in the U.S. relatively few traffickers have been held accountable. Legal advocates and providers increasingly pursue civil litigation, immigration relief, and other roads to meet victims’ needs and achieve justice. Less understood are the specific legal, structural, and cultural barriers that make the road to justice through the criminal legal system difficult for victims of labor trafficking. Utilizing a comparative case study approach, we examine the life course of five labor trafficking cases through crucial decision points in the criminal legal process. Cases were selected to provide a range of legal system pathways. Data for each case includes legal advocate case records, client interview notes, correspondence between stakeholders, court records, and stakeholder interviews. Through comparative analysis techniques, we identify barriers that derail offender accountability and stymie victim support. The findings provide guidance to improve offender accountability and suggest alternative roads to justice centering on the needs of victims. Identifying barriers in implementing anti-trafficking laws promotes more just, peaceful, and inclusive societies in furtherance of UN Sustainability Goal 16.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Confronting Discrimination

  Journal of Forensic Nursing · 2025-03-13 · 1 citations

  article

  BACKGROUND: Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a critical public safety and health concern in the United States. While evidence exists on the healthcare needs of exploited youth, less is known about the barriers they face accessing care. Discrimination in health care is one barrier reported by exploited youth and can include the perception of being treated differently based on perceived intelligence, engagement in commercial sex, or not feeling heard by nurses or doctors. AIMS: To explore asa experienced or are at high risk of CSEC. METHODS: Survey data from a sample of 534 young people aged 13-24 years who experienced or are at risk of CSEC were collected via agency partnership and social media. Ordinary least squares and logistic regression models examined the associations among victimization histories and different perceived discrimination events in healthcare settings. CSEC disclosure is highly associated with discriminatory events in medical settings. RESULTS: Among evaluated victimization histories, CSEC experiences were the most highly associated with an increase in the odds of each discriminatory event in the present measure, compared to other victimization histories that yielded lower associations of discrimination in medical settings. Experiences of discrimination in health care are an underexamined barrier to CSEC victims seeking and engaging with health care. IMPLICATIONS: By fostering a supportive, nonjudgmental environment, healthcare providers can improve healthcare experiences for CSEC survivors. Recommendations include enhancing training for healthcare professionals and creating more accessible and supportive healthcare services tailored to the unique needs of these young people.

  PublisherDOI

• Perceptions of Trauma-Informed Care: The Experiences of Minor Sex Trafficking Survivors in Medical Settings

  Research Square · 2025-12-02

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Changing Profiles of Youth Referred for Commercial Sexual Exploitation before and since the Onset of COVID-19 in the United States

  2025-04-15

  preprintOpen access

  We examined profiles of young people who have been referred to a state child serving agency concerned with identifying commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSE) in the Northeast of the United States before and since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using comprehensive data from this state child serving agency, our study used latent class analyses and regression analyses to explore changing profiles of young people referred for concerns of CSE since the pandemic. A profile of referred minors whose social settings included CSE-involved people was significantly less common since the onset of the pandemic compared to before the onset of the pandemic. Conversely, a profile of young people with risky online experiences (e.g., sharing sexually explicit media) was significantly more common among CSE referrals since the pandemic began. While extant literature warns of CSE risk in online settings, fewer cases of CSE were identified since the onset of the pandemic. Given the growing importance of online settings and experiences during childhood, supplemental screening practices are needed to better assess the risk of CSE among young people in online settings.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jack McDevitt

  34 shared

• Rosalie C. Sears

  Oregon Health & Science University

  25 shared

• Jonathan Bones

  University College Dublin

  19 shared

• Daniel Givelber

  18 shared

• Ieke de Vries

  17 shared

• Colin J. Daniel

  University of Portland

  17 shared

• Brittany L. Allen-Petersen

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  15 shared

• Dale J. Christensen

  13 shared

Labs

• Northeastern University School of Criminology and Criminal JusticePI

Education

• Ph.D., sociology

  North Carolina State University

Awards & honors

• NIJ’s W.E.B. Du Bois Fellowship (2014)
• National Institute of Justice’s W.E.B. Du Bois Fellowship (2…
• NIJ’s Graduate Research Fellowship (1999)
• American Society Criminology Mentor of the Year (2014)
• Robert Sheehan Excellence in Teaching Award (2016)